| "The Inner Light" | |||
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| Star Trek: The Next Generation episode | |||
"Kamin" surveys the world in which he lives. |
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| Episode no. | Season 5 Episode 25 |
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| Directed by | Peter Lauritson | ||
| Teleplay by | Morgan Gendel Peter Allan Fields |
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| Story by | Morgan Gendel | ||
| Featured music | Jay Chattaway | ||
| Production code | 225 | ||
| Original air date | June 1, 1992 | ||
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| Episode chronology | |||
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| List of Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes | |||
"The Inner Light" is the 25th episode of the fifth season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. The episode was written by freelance writer Morgan Gendel based on his original pitch; Gendel is credited as writer of the story and co-writer of the teleplay with Peter Allan Fields. It is the penultimate episode of the season and was first broadcast on June 1, 1992. The episode has an average rating of 4.8/5 on the official Star Trek website, and is considered to be one of the best episodes of the entire The Next Generation series. In 1993, "The Inner Light" won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. The flute melody, featured prominently in the episode, was composed by Jay Chattaway and has since been re-arranged for full orchestra.
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On Stardate 45944.1, the Enterprise has just finished a magnetic wave survey of the Parvenium System, when they encounter an unknown probe which scans the ship and directs an energy beam at Captain Picard, rendering him unconscious.
Picard wakes up to find himself on the surface of Kataan, a non-Federation planet. A woman identifies herself as his wife, Eline, telling Picard that he is Kamin, an iron weaver recovering from a feverish sickness. Picard talks of his memories on the Enterprise, but Eline and their close friend Batai try to convince Picard that his memories were only dreams, and acclimate him into their society as Kamin. Picard begins living out his life as Kamin in the village of Ressik, starting a family with Eline, and learning to play the flute.[notes 1] Kamin spends much time outdoors studying nature. As the years pass, he begins to notice that the planet is suffering a worldwide drought owing to increased radiation from the planet's sun. He sends reports to the planet's leaders, who seem to ignore his concerns; in fact, they already know this, but wish to keep it a secret.
Meanwhile on board the Enterprise, the crew continue attempts to try to revive Picard. They try to block the influence of the probe, but this only makes Picard worse, leaving them no choice but to let it continue.
Years pass and Kamin grows old, outliving his wife. Kamin and his daughter Meribor continue their study of the drought. They find that it is not temporary; extinction of all life on the planet is inevitable. One day, while playing with his grandson, Kamin is summoned by his adult children to watch the launch of a missile, which everyone seems to know about except him. As he walks outside into the glaring sunlight, Kamin sees Eline and Batai, as young as when he first saw them. They explain that he has already seen the missile, just before he came there. Knowing that the planet was doomed, the planet's leaders placed the memories of their culture into a probe and launched it into space, in the hope that it would find someone who could tell others about their species. Picard realizes the entire context, saying "Oh, it's me, isn't it? I'm the someone."
Picard wakes up on the bridge of the Enterprise to discover that only 25 minutes have passed. While he was unconscious, the crew of the Enterprise tracked the probe's course back to a scorched and desolate planet whose sun went nova 1,000 years earlier. The now inactive probe is brought aboard the Enterprise and the crew finds a small box within it. A somber Riker gives the box to Picard who opens it to find Kamin's flute. Picard, now adept at the instrument, plays the melody he learned during his life as Kamin.
Morgan Gendel named the episode after "The Inner Light," a song written by George Harrison and released by The Beatles as a B-side to "Lady Madonna:"
Without going out of my door
I can know all things on earth
Without looking out of my window
I could know the ways of heaven
The lyrics of Harrison's song are in turn based on the 47th chapter of the Taoist Tao Te Ching:
Without going outside his door, one understands (all that takes place) under the sky; without looking out from his window, one sees the Tao of Heaven. The farther that one goes out (from himself), the less he knows. Therefore the sages got their knowledge without travelling; gave their (right) names to things without seeing them; and accomplished their ends without any purpose of doing so.
According to Gendel, the song "captured the theme of the show: that Picard experienced a lifetime of memories all in his head."[1]
The brass Ressikan flute resembles and has a similar sound to a penny whistle or a tin whistle. It is considered a lasting reminder of Picard's virtual life on the planet throughout the rest of the series. Picard's flute could occasionally be seen in its box sitting on his desk. It plays a role in the episode "Lessons" where Picard develops a romantic relationship with a stellar cartographer assigned to the Enterprise, Nella Daren, who encourages his musical side, and with whom he performs a duet version of the "Inner Light" theme.[2] Later, Picard is seen recording a piece on the flute in the beginning of "A Fistful of Datas". Its final appearance was in a deleted scene from Star Trek Nemesis; Lieutenant Commander Data picks it up and examines it while discussing human life with Picard. The original placement of this scene was to have been immediately following the wedding ceremony shown in the opening scenes. The simple theme that Picard plays on the flute was later developed into a full orchestral suite for the 30th anniversary of Star Trek.[3]
From October 5–7, 2006, the Ressikan flute was one of the items up for bid at the Christie's official studio auction of Star Trek memorabilia. The prop flute, which cannot actually be played, was originally estimated to have a sale price of US$300. Auction directors admitted that their estimates for many items did not "factor in that emotional fury generated around this kind of material".[4] The estimate was later raised to $800–$1,200 on Christie's web site.[5] In the days leading up to the auction, Denise Okuda, former Trek scenic artist and video supervisor, as well as co-writer of the auction catalog, said: "That's the item people say they really have to have, because it's so iconic to a much-beloved episode."[6] The final bid for the flute at the auction was US$40,000. Including the additional 20% fee Christie's collected on all items from the winning bidder, the total price for the flute was $48,000.[5]
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